Rites & Rituals

What Is This Fetter?

This isn't about practices being bad. Meditation, inquiry, chanting, retreats — these can all be useful. The fetter is believing the practice itself will save you.

Common forms:

• "If I meditate 10,000 hours, I'll be enlightened"
• "This particular technique is the only way"
• "I need to do this ritual exactly right"
• "The more I practice, the closer I get"

It's what Chögyam Trungpa called spiritual materialism — using spiritual practices to strengthen the ego rather than see through it.

Why It Falls Automatically

Like doubt, this fetter dissolves when you see through self-view.

Here's why: The attachment to rites and rituals assumes there's a "self" who will benefit from the practice. A self who will become enlightened. A self who is getting somewhere.

When you see there's no separate self, who is there to benefit? Who is getting enlightened? The whole framework collapses.

You might still practice — but without the grasping. The practice becomes a natural expression rather than a project of self-improvement.

A Paradox

Yes, we're asking you to use an app — a kind of practice — to see through attachment to practice.

The difference is intention. This isn't about accumulating hours or achieving states. It's about looking directly, right now. The app is a finger pointing at the moon. Don't stare at the finger.

Signs of This Fetter

• Collecting techniques and teachers
• Comparing your practice to others
• Feeling like you're "almost there" if you just practice more
• Guilt when you miss a practice session
• Believing certain conditions are necessary for awakening